The Red and The Blond
by TheCheeryCherry
Summary: Scorpius realized he must have scared Rose for he said, 'Shhhh…' and placed a finger to his lips, then to hers. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS  but will resume shortly!
1. An End Has A Start

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blonde_

Chapter 1: An End has a Start

_A girl… no, a woman with dark red hair is sitting in a crowded room full of family members. They are all happy for her, (perhaps more happy than she is for herself), as tomorrow is the day she becomes a married woman. But this story began many years ago, nine years ago to be precise, on platform 9 and ¾._

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><p>"Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!" Rose Weasley, a slight girl with dark red hair and huge hazel eyes, could hear her parents joking (or maybe they were arguing, but she never could tell the difference) with each other, but a group of people were distracting her. It was a boy, who her parents were currently discussing, with striking features (light blonde hair, grey eyes and sharp cheekbones), and his parents, who were all standing on the opposite end of the platform. He was staring at her as well, with a half-smirk, while his parents were seemingly in deep conversation. She couldn't help but wonder if they were having a similar conversation to the one her parents were having.<p>

"Rosie," she felt a sharp poke in her back from her mother, "it's rude to stare!" Rose reluctantly lowered her eyes and concentrated instead on her fingernails.

* * *

><p>"Scorpius… Scorpius! Please listen to your father!" He flickered his eyes away from the Weasley girl and stared up at his aging father.<p>

"Sorry, what?" Draco sighed and passed his son's owl, Thorondor (who was safely in his cage), to him.

"I said to keep your distance away from _those_ children, especially the Potter children. They will only cause trouble for you or you will cause trouble for them… Either way -"

"Is this to do with that… uhm… war?" His father closed his eyes as if he couldn't bear to hear the word 'war' and his mother, Astoria, grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"It's just better for everyone if you don't… uh… mix with them, as it will surely bring back some… bad memories." Scorpius glanced back at the Weasleys and Potters, wondering what they were actually like, when he felt his Dad's hand on his shoulder.

"You'll most likely be Slytherin anyway, so you can easily avoid them." Their eyes met for a long moment and Scorpius wondered what house Draco actually wanted him to be in. "Now you better get onto the train now. We'll see you at Christmas." He gave quick hugs to both his parents, (although his Mother tried to make the hug last longer), then dragged his bags and Thorondor to the train. Just before getting on, he glanced back at his father, who gave him a quick, reassuring nod, and then he took a deep breath and left the platform.

* * *

><p>Rose slipped out of her compartment; she needed to escape her cousins and their silly jokes. She had told them she had gone off to find the tea trolley, as James kept going on about how delicious the sweets were. Rose gave a tiny sigh, as she passed by other compartments, which were filled were laughing students. '<em>Will I ever have friends like that, besides my family?<em>'

She was starting to wish Lily and Hugo were starting at Hogwarts this year, as well. She could not remember ever feeling so scared and lonely before… Albus was a first-year too, of course, but he was talking to James about his problems and Rose couldn't bear to listen to another one of James' made-up stories about Hogwarts. She needed someone for herself. Also, there was the scary prospect of the Sorting, which made Rose feel like puking every time she thought about it. '_I don't want to be anything other than a Gryffindor… What if I'm a Slytherin? Or Grandma thinks I could be the Hufflepuff in the family!_' She shook her head as a means to get the thoughts of the Sorting out of her head, as she could feel something rising in her throat.

The tea trolley was finally visible, and Rose quickened her pace to reach it in time. The tea trolley lady smiled pleasantly as she approached.

"Three Pumpkin Pasties please." She handed over the money and waited for her change and the pumpkin pasties.

"A licorice wand and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum." Rose turned her head slightly to see Scorpius Malfoy standing right next to her. The tea trolley lady was coughing to get Rose's attention, but for the second time that day Rose was distracted. The lady coughed again, and Scorpius began to look at her from the corner of his eye; this caused her to jump and she quickly grabbed the Pumpkin Pasties and the few knuts that was her change. She turned once more to Scorpius, who was now handing over his money, and she saw that same half-smirk forming on his face.

"H-hello…" She said so quietly that it was almost a whisper. He raised an eyebrow in her direction and stared into her huge eyes, but ultimately ignored her. She basically ran back down the corridor back to her own compartment to flee the scene.

'_I was just trying to be nice – trying to show him we don't have to be like our parents… But clearly he doesn't want to be civilized. Fine, be like that, Malfoy… Obviously just like his father._'

She tried to catch her breath back before she entered the compartment, but realized her cousins could see her standing outside, so just entered anyway.

"Awww… I wanted a Chocolate Frog, why did you - Why are you panting?" Albus asked Rose, as she handed over the Pumpkin Pasties.

She didn't answer, but just glared at Albus, which shut him up. She continued glaring out of the window for the rest of the journey, and nearly forgot all about the Sorting…

**A/N: Gah, this is my first fanfiction! I'm so sorry if it's horrible! **

**Just a few things: **

**I'm not really happy with the second half of this chapter (the stuff on the train), but I wanted to make this chapter longer, so yeah…**

**Uhm… I'm going to just write about important moments in the history of Scorpius and Rose, so it might jump around a bit – kind of like a flashback thing, I don't really know how to describe it! Haha**

**Also, I don't want people to get confused about all the staring between Rose and Scorpius and think they already like each other. They're just really interested in the other's family, but Scorpius obviously can't really interact with her. **

**I'm still deciding on the houses they're going to be sorted into, so if you could let me know your thoughts in the reviews, it'll be much appreciated!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm really worried this sucks, so just please let me know all your thoughts on this!**

**Thanks,**

**CheeryCherry**

**P.S. Sorry this was such a long A/N**


	2. The Sorting Surprise

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blonde_

Chapter 2: The Sorting Surprise

Scorpius stood outside the Great Hall like the rest of the first-year students, fidgeting nervously with his robes. He was scared about the Sorting, but after his talk with his father, he was more worried about what others would think about him and his family. Even though the war had nothing to do with him, he still couldn't get rid of the feeling of guilt he had about it. He glanced around at the other kids and saw Albus Potter standing with his hands in his pockets and staring at the ground. '_I don't know what he's so worried about… He's the son of the famous Potter, so is going to be in Gryffindor just like him. What about me?_'

He always had the feeling that his father didn't want him to be a Slytherin, and after his conversation with his father that day, the feeling had grown stronger. So what house did his father want him to be in? Couldn't be Hufflepuff, so perhaps Ravenclaw or Gryffindor? '_I definitely do not have the character of a Gryffindor though._'

He sighed and glanced around again, this time spotting Rose Weasley. She was staring up at the ceiling and mouthing – what looked like – "Gryffindor, Gryffindor", over and over again.

'_Merlin, two guesses for which house she wants to be in…_'

Rose was impatiently waiting for the Great Hall doors to open. She had spent her whole life listening to her parents' amazing stories about Hogwarts, and now she just wanted to experience everything herself… and (of course) she wanted to get Sorted. It was just so she could stop feeling so nauseous – it wasn't even so much the nausea – but she was starting to feel light-headed as well. She was finding the room suddenly bright – too bright – and her head was hurting immensely, as she kept saying 'Gryffindor' over and over again. It was all getting too much –

Finally McGonagall (Rose was slightly surprised that McGonagall was still headmaster, '_what had it been 20 years?') _appeared in the doorway to the Great Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, first-years! Follow me," she said in the sharp, strict voice, her parents had told her about so frequently, "Quickly now!" She began marching them all off into the Great Hall, and all but one followed. Rose stood fixed to the spot, while her eyes rolled to the back of her head; she collapsed in a pile on the floor with a loud thud. Several students turned and gasped, and Albus was at her side in a second.

"Rose!" He said loudly enough for McGonagall and half of the Great Hall to hear.

"Oh, Merlin! We've got a fainter!" She called, as she approached Rose's still body.

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><p>"Malfoy, Scorpius!"<p>

He received a few uneasy stares and a few whispers, as he walked slowly up to the Sorting hat. He had been hearing whispers about him since he stepped into the Hall, regardless of the fact that a girl had fainted just before he entered. '_Merlin, I thought that would take some of the attention off of me._' Rose was still passed out by the Staff table with Madame Pomfrey caring for her.

He took a deep breath before sitting down on the stool placed just in front of the Staff table and which overlooked all the students. He placed the hat on his head and waited for his fate to be called out.

Silence… The hat wasn't even commenting about why it was taking so long to call out his name, just silence. Malfoy could feel his cheeks flushing as people were all staring up at him confusedly. Finally the hat uttered the word that would change his life forever,

"GRYFFINDOR!" And the silence continued; only the teachers lead a polite applause, but the students were stunned, so was Scorpius.

He trudged over to the Gryffindor table and didn't make eye contact with anyone, as he knew they were all sitting there with their eyebrows raised and just wondering how the hell he got into this house. He was silently agreeing with them, '_How can I, Scorpius Malfoy, be a Gryffindor? I'm not one by blood, or by character…'_

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><p>"Potter, Albus." Potter walked solemnly over to the hat as he heard his name. He was absolutely terrified he would be in Slytherin, but had been trying to keep it out of his mind the whole afternoon. His Father had told him it would be fine if he got into Slytherin and he believed him, but he didn't want to be the only Potter to be in Slytherin. Harry wasn't in Slytherin, neither was Ginny, James isn't and he assumed Lily wouldn't, so why was he feeling so sure that he'd be in Slytherin.<p>

He placed his hat on his head and the hat began talking instantly.

"Hmmm… a tricky choice! I can see in you what I saw in the Great Harry Potter all those years ago. Maybe I'll go with my better judgment this time." Albus gulped and started repeating over and over, '_Gryffindor, Gryffindor; I want to be in Gryffindor!_' The hat whispered in reply," Sorry, this time I'm going with what I think is right. SLYTHERIN!"

He knew it was coming – he just knew he was going to be a Slytherin – but he still felt shocked as he walked towards the Slytherin table. He saw James stare at him with his mouth gaping, but all Albus could do in reply was shrug. People applauded as he took his seat, and Albus felt a small smile creep onto his face. '_Maybe I'm here, because I belong here…_'

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><p>Rose came around just as the Feast was beginning. She sat bolt upright a little too quickly and felt her head throb in pain.<p>

"Oh, be careful! How are you feeling dear?" Rose winced slightly from the pain of whacking her head on the floor when she fell down earlier.

"Um… okay, but my head hurts a little." She felt a little disoriented and wondered why she was in the Great Hall while everyone was having a feast, and then it suddenly hit her. "The Sorting? Did I miss the Sorting?" She asked in a small, panicked voice.

"Don't worry, you will be Sorted now. But I must insist you spend the night in the Hospital Wing." Rose slowly nodded in response. Madame Pomfrey stood up to fetch Professor McGonagall, while Professor Longbottom came over to Rose's side.

"Hello Rose" He smiled at her, before helping her stand up. Rose was happy to see a familiar face and smiled back. He led her over to the stool in front of the staff table and her eyes fell on Albus. Her forehead crinkled in confusion, as she realized he was sitting at the Slytherin table. He gave her a sheepish smile, as she mouthed '_How the- _' She shook her head and sat down on the stool. Everyone was quiet as Professor Longbottom placed the hat on her head. Rose held her breath in anticipation, but she didn't have to wait that long, as the hat instantly cried,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

She broke into a huge smile, and the whole Great Hall clapped before returning to their food. Madame Pomfrey was by her side again and softly said,

"I'll take you to the Wing now, okay? You can celebrate tomorrow dear. Professor Longbottom will bring some Pumpkin juice and sandwiches for you to have." She was already tugging on Rose to leave the Hall.

"Sure." Rose murmured, still grinning. She waved at Albus – deciding to ignore the fact he was in Slytherin for now – and was turning to the Gryffindor table to wave at James, when she noticed someone she would have never expected to see sitting there, Scorpius Malfoy.

'_How is that even possible?_'

**A/N: I actually wanted to upload this chapter earlier in the week, but my computer broke, so yeah, the chapters should be put up quicker in the future. :) **

**So, thanks so much for the reviews! It means a lot to me (seriously I expected zero reviews, so I'm totally thrilled I got three), and I'm sorry this chapter was so boring, but next chapter should hopefully be more interesting! **

**And someone mentioned in the review that I should write for when they're older as well. Well, I'm planning to work through all the years at Hogwarts, and maybe even some years after Hogwarts, so don't panic! And the next chapter will be the last for Year 1, and you'll see why ;) **

**Please review and I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! **

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**

**Oh, and what are your thoughts on the housing? I didn't want to put them all in Gryffindor and one of my friends has always said she thinks Albus would be in Slytherin, so just thought I would go with that. **


	3. The Unforgettable Past

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blonde_

Chapter 3: The Unforgettable Past

Several weeks had passed since the Sorting, and Rose was trying to keep ahead with her workload – Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and History of Magic – as she knew her parents, especially her Mother, would not be too pleased if she fell behind at school.

She had already written several letters back home, which were all replied to very quickly. They were thrilled that she was in Gryffindor; surprised that Albus was in Slytherin and did not comment on Scorpius being in Gryffindor.

Rose had not made many friends yet, just some people she could small talk with. She had really depended on the fact that Albus would be in Gryffindor, so she could talk to him and become friends with his friends… Now she had to do this by herself, which is also partly the reason why she was trying so hard to keep up with her classes – so she had something to distract her. Hermione apparently had the same problem at first, but at least Rose still _could_ talk to Albus. Slytherin and Gryffindor usually had classes together, so she could still see him a lot.

"Albus!" Rose called, while running to catch up with him outside of Herbology. She was walking at his pace in a matter of seconds. His friends had gone off to the side when they saw her coming; they didn't seem to like her very much. "You didn't talk to me for the whole of class… Now you're a Slytherin, you think you're too _cool_ for me?" She asked teasingly. They had been joking around about him being a Slytherin for the past month and a half, and it wasn't getting old yet.

"Yes, I am… But don't worry I'll still make time for my _little_ cousin." He joked back, while pulling on one of Rose's cheeks in the way that her Aunts and Uncles usually did when she was little. Rose gave him a little punch on his side. They both laughed a little and at that exact moment, Scorpius Malfoy stumbled past them, obviously on his way back to the castle for dinner.

Rose sighed, Malfoy was turning out to be a big problem for her. She had firmly decided during her stay at the Hospital Wing, that she would not talk to him at all, unless he apologized for being so rude on the train. It was easy not to talk to him for he did not seem to want to talk, or apologize, to her. But not talking to him was problematic, as there were many occasions where she felt she had to say something.

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><p>During breakfast, on the first day of classes, which she was late to, as she had just been released from the Hospital Wing, he was sitting all by himself and some people were looking at him strangely. She felt horrible that he had nobody to talk to, but she didn't talk to him.<p>

Then in the first class of the day – History of Magic (the most boring class in the _history_ of classes) – he sat alone again and Rose could've easily sat next to him, as she didn't really have a friend to sit next to, but instead she next to a girl called Esmeralda Gremler, who was kind of the opposite of Rose; she was loud, outgoing, adventurous and rarely paid attention in class.

This happened everyday for the next few weeks; he would be alone and get looks and whispers from fellow students, and Rose would get an overwhelming urge to talk to him, despite the fact that she found him extremely rude. Then there was the day he snapped.

It was about a month into school and it was in the common room just after dinner. Scorpius had been asked a question in Potions class and he didn't know the answer.

"_Where is a bezoar found? Malfoy, do you know the answer?" Professor__ Higgins __had asked. Rose knew the answer as her Uncle Harry had once saved her Father's using a bezoar and there were many stories passed around at dinner parties about that incident. She had glanced over at Albus, who had his hand stuck in the air ready to answer, and they had shared a smile. Scorpius colored slightly and looking down at his desk, replied,_

"_I don't know, Sir." He mumbled, and Professor Higgins frowned slightly._

"_Really, you don't know? But it's in the textbook that everyone was supposed to read." Scorpius clenched his teeth together, as he replied a little louder this time;_

"_Yes, really. I don't know, Sir." He had almost snarled when he said 'sir'._

In the common room, Rose could hear a lot of conversations about how 'he's a typical Malfoy' and that 'he should learn some manners' and a lot of 'I really do wonder how he's a Gryffindor'. Rose had to almost physically bite her tongue to stop herself from saying anything to them, because she felt that they were being unfair and she wanted so badly to tell them to be quiet, but somebody did that for her… and it was Scorpius Malfoy himself.

He was sitting at one of the tables by himself studying, and there was one group of second-years, who were commenting on Scorpius being in Gryffindor, only a few tables away from him. He had stood up quite abruptly, and slammed one of his hands down on the table. Rose, like mostly everyone in the room, had jumped at this.

"I know you don't think I belong in this house, but I know myself that I don't belong here, okay?" He raised his voice, so everyone could hear him. "I know I should be in Slytherin just like my father, because I'm a _Malfoy_."

There was something about the way he said his last name that nearly broke her heart… Why did they have to live in their parents' shadows? Maybe she was wrong about him and so she decided she must talk to him; however she hardly saw him around the next few weeks and it felt like he was avoiding everyone. And when she did see him, she chickened out of talking to him.

* * *

><p>"Look I've got to eat quickly, so I can go to the library afterwards." Rose quickly made that excuse – while Albus rolled his eyes – and made to run away. "See you later!" She waved quickly behind her shoulder at him, and he waved back casually before returning to his friends.<p>

She entered the Great Hall and instantly saw him sitting by himself, which was not at all surprising, so she took a deep breath and walked on over to him.

* * *

><p>He had been keeping his distance from everyone over the past few weeks after his little meltdown in the common room. He decided not to tell his Father that he had freaked out, as he knew the response would be, '<em>You shouldn't have brought attention to yourself like that.<em>' Draco did seem quite happy about Scorpius being in Gryffindor, but reminded him not to talk to any Weasleys or Potters, which was made reasonably easier by the fact that Albus was in Slytherin.

Nobody seemed to really want to talk to him before or after the meltdown anyway. He sat alone most of the time, unless there was no other table for a student to sit at, so they would have to sit next to him, but now he was at dinner by himself after a boring day of classes. Is this how the rest of his school years were going to be like? He was already looking forward to the end of the seven years. He sighed, and continued to slowly eat his chicken leg.

He felt someone sit next to him on the bench, so he turned his head slightly and saw to his great surprise that Rose Weasley was sitting next to him. '_Damn…_' There were several other seats available on the Gryffindor table, so there must be a reason why she decided to sit right next to him… It couldn't be to talk to him, could it? He had ignored her on the train on purpose, and he thought it had worked. She didn't seem to particularly care that he had ignored her before.

There was an awkward silence, as Rose started helping herself to some food, but she kept glancing at Scorpius. He was staring at her from the corner of his eye – just waiting for her to say something. Finally she couldn't avoid it any longer and the words tumbled out of her fast,

"I don't think it's fair" She concentrated on her plate, as she said this. Scorpius faced her with an eyebrow raised; he really had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh… what's not?" He asked slowly. She turned to look at him now with a strange, satisfied smile on her face.

"Oh, so you're not ignoring me anymore?" She let out a small snort, and Scorpius could only reply with a sheepish smile and a shrug. "Anyway, I don't think it's fair that they all judge you because of your last name."

"Okay…" He was surprised that she even cared, and then he realized that she's obviously nice and that's why she cares. He didn't really know what to do. His Father told him to stay away from the Weasleys and the Potters, because it would bring up bad memories for the families, but Rose didn't seem to mind about all that.

"I just wanted to say that." She said, turning back to her food.

"Umm… sorry about ignoring you before." He mumbled.

"It's fine." She gave him a small smile. He felt like smiling back and getting to know her, but he couldn't disobey his Father.

"I have to go now… to the uh.. Library." He didn't wait to here her answer; he just ran out of there.

* * *

><p>The next day they had a surprise quiz in Potions class. Rose was pretty sure she passed with flying colors and she wanted to know how if Scorpius had got the one about bezoars right. She was still a little confused about why he had run out on her the other night, but she was willing to ignore that, because he was finally talking to her now. He seemed to be running out of the classroom, so she had to run a little herself to catch up with him. She tapped his shoulder and he spun around with an irritated look on his face. She jumped back a little in surprise; she had no idea why he looked so angry.<p>

"Umm… how do you think you did in the quiz? There was one about the—"

"Can you just stop?" He interrupted. Rose frowned and innocently asked,

"Stop what?"

"Being nice." Her eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"Sorry, you don't like people being nice to you? I don't understand." She didn't know whether to laugh to cry, but she knew she should have expected the answer he was about to give her.

"Our families… Doesn't that bother you?" He was saying this as if there was something seriously wrong with her for not caring. "Your Mother was tortured in my house. That should bother you." He stormed off after saying this leaving Rose standing there with her eyes prickling with tears.

**A/N: So, this is the last chapter of Year 1 and I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters! There will be more of my OC Esmeralda Gremler, who is going to actually help (unintentionally) Rose and Scorpius become friends. Also, there is going to be some Scorpius/Albus interaction in one of the upcoming chapters… I won't tell you if it's going to be a friendly or unfriendly one yet ;)**

**I'm kind of worried about my last chapter, because nobody reviewed for it! (Although some people put it on alert, which I really appreciate!) PLEASE review; it gives me so much motivation and makes me feel really happy (I know those are kind of selfish reasons, haha), but yeah, just let me know what you're liking/not liking. **

**So please review, or... I won't upload the next chapter! Haha, now I'm just sounding desperate ;)**

**Thanks, **

**TheCheeryCherry**


	4. The Duelling Club

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 4: The Duelling Club

_One of her closest friends, Esmeralda Gremler, is standing by the buffet table with her hand resting on the shoulder of her date. She is a beautiful girl with long, dark hair and bright green eyes; Rose had always thought she was flawless. She looks around the room and her eyes rest on Rose, and they share a smile. There was a time when they were inseparable and she was the only person Rose ever spoke to, but that all changed at the end of 2__nd__ year, because of one night in the Forbidden Forest. This brought her closer to someone else, which Rose couldn't help but be thankful for._

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I let you drag me to this." Esmeralda groaned, while slowly walking into the classroom that was cleared for the first Duelling Club lesson of the year. All the tables had been cleared and a small stage had been erected at the front of the classroom.<p>

"I think it's going to be fun." Rose grinned at her. Esmeralda began to roll her eyes, as Rose started to pull her nearer to the stage. Rose quickly surveyed the room to check if Albus had arrived yet, because he had told Rose he was interested in coming; however she couldn't find him in the crowd of 2nd Years that had turned up for the first Duelling Club class of the year.

"Good evening second years, and welcome to your first Duelling class. Before the fun begins, I would like to tell you a little bit more about Hogwarts Duelling Club." The chatter began to die down as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Hughes, started speaking in his natural booming voice. Professor Hughes was quite old with greying hair and wrinkles under his eyes; he was also quite plump. Rose smiled up at Professor Longbottom, who was standing by Professor Hughes side – obviously he was going to be his assistant.

Esmeralda folded her arms across her chest, clearly waiting for something interesting to happen, or for the duelling to start, so she could inflict some sort of pain on Rose for dragging her to this thing. Rose was actually proud of herself for being able to get Esmeralda to join her to Duelling Club, because she rarely did what anyone asked her to do; to say the least she was a troublemaker, therefore hating clubs where people had to follow the rules.

"The first Duelling class was actually first set up during the great Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts, however it wasn't a huge success," Professor Hughes began excitedly, Rose couldn't help but smile as she had heard all about Professor Lockhart's failed attempt at a Duelling Club from her family, "but after the second wizarding war, Harry Potter himself suggested the Duelling Club be set up again. He had his own 'little' club when he was at Hogwarts called Dumbledore's Army, where he taught a bunch of students certain defensive spells and also got them to duel amongst each other. Of course we won't be as serious as the DA were, this is more about having fun and getting to meet new people!" He finished, grinning manically at everyone; he was clearly excited about the club. Esmeralda groaned loudly and tapped her foot impatiently - just waiting for the duelling to actually start. Rose already knew the story of the DA, so she was beginning to get impatient to start as well.

"You may take duelling classes in Year 3 and 4 as well – we have three classes a week and you attend the one according to your year - but they stop after 4th year, as you will all be very busy with OWLs and NEWTs." He grinned, and gestured for Professor Longbottom to stand next to him. "Right, so we need all of you to find a partner; doesn't have to be someone in your house… Remember this is all about making new friends! Professor Longbottom and I will be observing your duels and near the end of class we'll ask a few pairs to come show off on stage and we will teach you some technique. So, have fun and find some space in the room to duel! And please don't harm your opponents; disarming spells only for now… We shall be watching you." He ended his long, seemingly never-ending speech with a little chuckle. The students quickly started finding their friends in the crowd.

"'It's all about making new friends,'" Esmeralda mimicked Professor Hughes in a rather loud voice. "Honestly Rose, this is so _stupid_."

"Shhh…" Rose whispered, but she still laughed at her friend's near perfect imitation of the Professor. "Hmmm… I think we're supposed to bow first and then walk a few steps away from your partner."

"_No_ bowing." Esmeralda stated, putting her hands on her hips.

"Fine, no bowing." Rose stepped a little bit away from her and took out her wand. "Okay… 1… 2 -"

"_Everte statum_" Esmeralda said with a casual flick of her wrist and Rose was thrown backwards. Rose let out a small shriek and exclaimed,

"What the _hell_?" Esmeralda giggled loudly. She added through her fits of laughter, "Oops… Sorry!"

* * *

><p>Scorpius had thought it would be a good idea to join the Duelling Club, but then the Professor had started talking about the 'Great' Harry Potter and all he wanted to do now was escape. He quickly glanced around the room to see where the Professors were, and saw that they were both distracted by Rose Weasley, who had just been knocked backwards by her partner into a wall. Scorpius was curious himself about what had happened to her, but he and Rose had begun to pretend that the other didn't exist since he had brought up their parents' past; and besides he had to leave <em>now<em>. He walked quickly towards the door, but someone blocked his way…. It was Albus Potter.

"Do you want to be my partner?" Scorpius had no idea what to say, and all that left his mouth was,

"Umm… err…. I -", which caused Albus to laugh.

"You weren't my first choice either," he said, guessing why Scorpius reacted the way he did. "But my friends paired up together themselves and you were the only person… err… guy, I could see standing by himself… so yeah." Albus used a lot of hand gestures while talking, then stood with his arms lamely at his side as he finished his sentence.

"Wow… pretty honest." Scorpius couldn't help but say. Albus shrugged and stuck his hand out towards Scorpius.

"You're Scorpius…I'm Albus, but I'm sure you already know that, right?" He smirked. Scorpius shook Albus' outstretched hand.

"Well, yes… we have the same classes together apart from Transfiguration, Charms and History of Magic." Scorpius made to bow, as he knew that was what you were supposed to do before you start a duel. Albus leaned forward to bow as well.

"Hmm… right." They took a few steps away from each other. Albus flicked his hair out of his eyes, and he stared at Scorpius for a while, as if he was considering whether he should say something or not.

"It must be difficult being a Malfoy in Gryffindor." He finally mused. Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows then jokingly replied,

"Must be difficult being a Potter in Slytherin!" Albus grinned at him, but seemed to actually take his statement seriously. Scorpius glanced over across the classroom and saw that Rose was back on her feet and continuing to duel with her partner.

"I guess in the beginning it kind of was, because people all wondered why the hell I was in Slytherin… but then people started seeing me for who I was, and not just seeing my Father." Scorpius felt a sudden connection with Albus; they had both had to break away from their Father's shadow, but Albus was clearly doing a better job than Scorpius was at it, which Albus voiced next. "With you though, your Father was one of the bad guys, I know he was forced to be like that, but still… Now you're in the house the 'Golden Trio' were in. It's kind of funny actually, but must be tough." Albus gave a little sigh, then raised his wand, as if he suddenly remembering the purpose of the club, "_Expelliarmus_" He called, which caused Scorpius' wand to fall out of his hand; but he wasn't really paying attention. He was stumped for the second time that evening by Albus' bluntness… his honesty. Scorpius strangely wasn't hurt or angry; he kind of admired him.

"Again with the honesty!" He called back, as if Albus hadn't just disarmed him. Albus smirked at him,

"I'm really too honest for my own good." Scorpius laughed a little, and realized it was the first time he had really laughed since being at Hogwarts. He could imagine himself becoming good friends with this guy and finally having someone to talk with. The only problem was his Father didn't want Scorpius to even talk to him, let alone become friends with him…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, this chapter took me ages to write and it was really frustrating! But finally got there! I think the next chapter will be easier for me to write and will probably be up this weekend!**

**Thanks everyone who put this story on alert and for the reviews! : D It really means a lot to me and knowing that some people are actually enjoying this story (well, hopefully you are) feels great. **

**So, review or put it on alert or whatever! Anyone liking Esmeralda? :P**

_**And more bromance to come!**_

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry. **


	5. You've Got A Friend

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 5: You've got a Friend

Scorpius was sitting in Hogwarts' courtyard passing the time between his Charms and Potions class. It was just before Christmas break and he could always see other students extra happy and excited, but Scorpius had never been a huge fan of Christmas. The main reason for this was probably because it was only ever him and his parents. Other students got to see all their relatives at Christmas and it must have been a nice feeling, but Scorpius never felt like that. He was looking forward to going back to see his parents, but not really for Christmas.

He had been keeping himself busy with classes (the workload had increased by quite a lot since 1st year) and Duelling Club once a week; Scorpius absolutely loved them. He really enjoyed spending his time with Albus, even if it was just for one hour a week. He and Albus didn't really talk outside of Duelling Club, because Albus had his other friends and Scorpius knew his Father would disapprove... He hadn't even told him that Albus was his duelling partner yet and he didn't know whether he should.

Scorpius was watching the other students having snowball fights and making snow angels (Rose and Esmeralda were busy doing that on the other side of the courtyard). He felt a snowball whack against his back and he got up angrily to see who would dare throw a snowball at him, Scorpius Malfoy. (He didn't particularly mind snowball fights, but he was in kind of a bad mood.) He placed his hand on wand, which was in the pocket of his robes, and turned around, but only to see Albus standing there grinning.

"Hey" he said casually, flopping down in the snow next to Scorpius.

"Umm… hi?" He said, unsure of why Albus was even talking to him outside of Duelling Club, let alone throwing snowballs at him.

"Oh," Albus' face fell slightly, "hope you don't mind me sitting here?"

Scorpius shook his head and sat back down next to Albus.

"Well, I thought we would just be talking to each other during duelling classes." Albus looked slightly bemused for a minute then began to answer,

"Look, you seem… cool. And you don't look like you have many friends and my friends are… kind of stupid," he gestured over to his friends, who seemed to be guffawing at a small boy rolling around on the floor with no trousers on. Albus sighed then said in a very dramatic voice, "Anyway, I thought this was the start of a beautiful friendship!" Scorpius snorted and they both started laughing. Scorpius seemed to laugh a lot around him.

As if she could hear them laughing, Rose began glaring at Albus, which made him shudder audibly… he hated her glares.

"Why does my cousin say I shouldn't talk to you?" Albus asked, remembering his most recent conversation with Rose.

* * *

><p>"<em>You could have been my duelling partner!" Rose said angrily, folding her arms across her chest. They were sitting in the Great Hall; Rose had purposefully come over to the Slytherin table to tell Albus not to talk to Scorpius anymore.<em>

"_You were _Gremlin's_ partner." He couldn't stand Esmeralda, so turned her last name to Gremlin; he thought it suited her._

"_Don't call her that! Anyway, he's horrible… just switch partners." Albus sighed at Rose's apparent shortsightedness._

"_Really? You're still holding a grudge against his family for our parents? Grow up, Rosie" She blushed furiously and he realized she was going to start shouting._

"_Me?" Yup, he was right, she was shouting... very loudly. "I'm not the one with a grudge, he is! So, he's the one who needs to bloody grow up! I have no idea why he's even talking to you, because he seemed to have a BIG issue with me being nice to -"_

"_Look, I don't know what happened between you two and I don't want to get involved, but he's just my duelling partner… that's it, okay?" _

"_Fine. I'll be writing to a letter to my parents about this, and to yours." She then stood up and walked away with her head held high. Albus knew she was bluffing, because she would look bad for saying who Albus should or shouldn't be friends with, but he couldn't stand her being angry._

* * *

><p>Scorpius looked over in Rose's direction to find her glaring at Albus, but she began to turn bright red and looked away, as she saw Scorpius looking at her. Scorpius sighed, and proceeded to tell Albus everything that happened (including what his Father said, regardless of the fact it made him sound like a complete baby).<p>

"Don't tell anyone about what my Father said though; I'm pretty sure it's supposed to just stay between me and him." Albus nodded quickly in response.

"So, you weren't going to talk to her, because of your Dad… blah, blah, blah… But she seemed really nice, so you thought 'What do I do now?'"

"Uh… do we need to go through everything again?"

"Shhh… so ultimately you were really mean to her to get her to not want to be your friend," Albus paused, seeming to be deep in thought, "So why are you talking to me?"

"Are you giving me a choice?" Scorpius laughed and Albus half smiled at that, but Scorpius quickly realized he would have to give a more serious answer. "I don't really know… You don't seem to care about anything that happened, you can joke about that stuff. I think she still cares about our families... based on her reaction to what I said anyway." Albus shook his head straightaway and gave a little smirk.

"No, she doesn't care, but she probably thinks you do. Oh, and she thinks you're a horrible person."

That's what Scorpius had wanted her to think before, but now he was starting to care less and less about what his Father had told him since he knew the Potters and the Weasleys were actually nice. And it didn't bring up bad memories; at least it didn't until he brought them up… Should he try to make amends with her, or just leave it?

"I've got to go to class." Scorpius said, as he didn't really want to discuss how much Rose hates him right now. He stood up to leave, and so did Albus.

"Yup, Potions right? We've got it together." Scorpius smiled, he didn't really know what made Albus want to start being 'buddies' with him, but he was… thankful for it.

"Oh, please don't tell Rose about what my Father said -"

"Wasn't going to, you told me not to tell anyone."

Esmeralda was skipping to class with her arm linked in Rose's.

"Move it, Potter!" She called loudly, pushing her way past him. He ended up falling into Scorpius, but quickly got his balance back. He was muttering angrily under his breath, before looking at Scorpius.

"Stupid Gremlin; she's a nightmare! I mean, skipping? Who even does that?" He gave out a derisive laugh, before continuing on seriously, "She keeps trying to get Rose hurt, remember at the first Duelling class? And getting her into trouble, and Rose's parents will freak out if she gets into trouble. Will you keep an eye out on them, or something? I would, but I'm in Slytherin…"

Scorpius didn't really want to, but he ended up agreeing, because he was his friend. And that's what friends do.

**A/N: Firstly, sorry it took a while to update, but I've been busy lately and a bit unwell. **

**Secondly, this is really just a filler chapter just to show the growth of Scorpius' and Albus' friendship. Next chapter will be about what happened in the Forbidden Forest! Oooh… Haha. And also it's the last chapter for 2****nd**** Year. Yay!**

**Thanks for all the alerts and the reviews, it means a lot to me! So keep on reviewing and whatever :D **

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	6. The Forbidden Forest

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 6: A Night in the Forbidden Forest

"Esme, are you even listening to me?" Rose asked snappily, rolling over onto her side so she could see Esmeralda's face a little clearer. It was dark in the 2nd Year girls' bedroom, as it was around half past ten on a Friday night, so most of the girls wanted to get to sleep early.

"Yes… 'How could Albus do this? He's such a pig' blah blah blah…" She droned and ended it with a large yawn. "Rosie, you're boring me to sleep."

Rose sighed loudly; she didn't understand why Esmeralda couldn't provide helpful advice or just consoling words like the other girls' friends did. Maybe she had talked about it a bit too much since the Christmas holidays (it was almost Summer now), but she didn't have anyone else to talk about it with. She had already told the entire family about Albus and Scorpius being friends, because she had a feeling Albus wouldn't tell his parents and she thought they deserved to know.

She rolled over so she was facing away from Esmeralda and shut her eyes.

"Oh, are you grumpy now?" Esmeralda asked teasingly, but Rose didn't answer. There was a long moment of silence before Esmeralda gave a loud huffing noise out of frustration and kicked the sheets off her. She crept over to Rose's bed, which was the one right next to hers, and pounced onto Rose's still body. She let out a squeal, as Esmeralda began to tickle her relentlessly. They soon both fell into a fit of laughter before one of the other girls sat bolt upright in their bed and called,

"Some of us our actually trying to sleep here!" After Esmeralda let out one last snort of laughter at the girl, she turned to Rose with quite a scary expression on her face… her eyebrows were slightly raised and a cheeky smirk was playing on her lips. Rose gulped; this usually meant she had come up with a good way to get them into some sort of trouble. She pulled on one of Rose's wrists to get her out of bed.

"What?" Rose mumbled quietly. Her smirk grew, as she moved closer to Rose's ear and whispered,

"Bring the Marauder's Map you stole with us," Rose rolled her eyes, because now she definitely knew that Esme wanted to cause some trouble. "Because we're going out… Oh, and you'll probably need shoes and your coat." She gave Rose one last toothy smile before picking her wand off her bedside table.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked, worry apparent in her voice.

"The Forest" Esme said cheekily, before leaving the bedroom. Rose stared after her wide-eyed and with no clue what she should do.

_Well, I'm going to have to go… What would she do if I didn't?_

_And it's not like my parents can really say anything if they found out; they went down to The Forbidden Forest all the time when they were younger… _

_But if I get caught? No, I won't, because I've got the Marauder's Map… I should probably give it back to James sometime soon. _

Rose grabbed her coat, the map and her wand, before heading outside after Esme. She skipped out in front of Rose, while she walked carefully down the stairs to the common room, as she was tapping the map and saying '_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._' She could see that the common room was nearly empty, apart from one person she definitely did not want to see… Scorpius Malfoy. She froze; he hadn't noticed them yet, but she didn't want him to ask them anything.

Esmeralda grabbed her arm and basically dragged her along to the entrance.

"Uhh… where are you two going?" Scorpius asked in a small voice. Both Rose and Esmeralda paused for a second before turning around to face him. He was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, but began to stand up while they turned around. He eyed them suspiciously, so Rose shoved the map into one of her coat pockets.

"Are you a Prefect now, or something? I thought you had to be a 5th year for that." She confidently said, raising one of her eyebrows at him. He appeared to be quite uncomfortable in Esme's presence, as he just stood there awkwardly. Esmeralda pulled a funny sort of smile, and then cheerfully said, "Well, it was nice chatting with you, Scorpius, but we'll be off now." She turned back towards the entrance and marched out. Scorpius furrowed his brow at Rose, as if he wanted her to answer his previous question. She bit her lip and followed Esmeralda out the portrait hole.

* * *

><p>"So, we're really going inside <em>there<em>?" Rose asked apprehensively, as she stared at the dark forest. She shuddered and wrapped her coat around her tightly.

"Yup."

Rose internally groaned, she hadn't actually thought they would make it all the way out of the school, but miraculously they had. She was starting to regret stealing the map from James, which was in fact Esmeralda's idea back at the beginning of second year. She was probably looking utterly frightened, which was proven by Esmeralda's next sentence:

"Bloody hell, Rosie. Why do you look like I've just suggested we perform one of the unforgiveable curses?" Rose let out an involuntary gasp at the mention of the curses, which just made Esmeralda giggle. She found Rose's hand in the darkness and pulled her along to the edge of the forest. "We won't go too far in, alright? And it'll be just for a minute."

"But… what if there's something in there?" Esme didn't pay much attention though and continued to walk inside the forest. They both chanted '_Lumos_' to make the ends of their wands light up.

Rose wasn't really sure how long they had walked for, but they eventually stopped. Esme let go of Rose's hand and raised the wand to her face, so it was lit up spookily.

"See, it's not so bad is it? You know they even have unicorns in here." Rose smiled at the fact that Esme had remembered that unicorns were her favourite mystical creatures and that she longed to see one.

She turned to face Esmeralda, but couldn't see her… Her light had gone out and now it was completely dark. Rose felt her heartbeat increase significantly; what could she do now? She tried to call out for Esmeralda and waited for a response, but there was only silence. She manically waved her wand around, hopelessly trying to cast enough light, so she could find the way out. She attempted to walk a few steps ahead, but knew she had absolutely no idea if she was walking out of the forest, or in fact walking deeper into it. She was feeling light-headed, and remembered this feeling all too well from her first day at Hogwarts.

She heard a female call out her name, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

><p>Scorpius had no idea why he was following them. Well, he did know why… It was because Albus told him to look out for Rose, but he wasn't really someone who went out of his way to help people, in fact he rarely did help anyone... Yet here he was basically aimlessly searching the Hogwarts castle for them, because he had no clue where they had gone. And he was surprised that he hadn't bumped into anyone… well, anyone living; he had bumped into two or three ghosts, who didn't seem to really care that he was walking around the school at nearly midnight. He was about to give up and head back to the common room to finish off his letter to his parents when he remembered something about his encounter with the girls earlier. <em>They both had shoes and coats on.<em> He sprung to action and ran to the entrance doors.

As he was leaving the castle, he had seen Filch's cat… He knew that if he ran back to the common room, he might be able to escape Mr. Filch, but he heard Esmeralda cry out _"Rose!"_ and realized it was too late to turn back. He ran all the way down to Esmeralda's dark shadow near the trees.

"Gremler, what is it? Where's Rose?" He whispered urgently, placing his hand on Esme's shoulder. She turned to look at him with relief in her eyes.

"It was just a joke… We didn't walk very far in and I thought she would find her way out, because-"

Scorpius didn't need to hear the rest to know that Rose might be in danger. He lit up his wand and marched into the trees, leaving Esmeralda at the edge of the forest.

"Rose!" He called out, but there was no reply. He felt a sudden, strong dislike for Esmeralda… _How could she just leave her there?_

He could see another light a little away from him, so he began to run over to it, and as he got closer to it he realized Rose's body was lying limply next to it. He held his breath as he checked if she was alive or not. Thankfully she was just unconscious.

"Rose...?" He muttered more to himself than to Rose.

"Scorpius?" She was already beginning to come around and she sounded very confused. He couldn't help but smirk, because he was probably the last person she ever expected to find her.

He helped her up and was basically carrying all her weight, so that she could walk. As they reached the edge of the forest, he could see not just Esmeralda's figure there, but Filch's and McGonagall's as well. Rose seemed to wince at this sight, and Scorpius couldn't do anything except stay absolutely still and mutter,

"_Merlin."_

**A/N: Oh my God, this chapter is so bad. I was looking forward to writing this chapter, but it's just so bad. And it's my longest chapter so far, haha.**

**Anyway, this is the last chapter of 2****nd**** Year, so I'll give you some little teasers for 3****rd**** Year (like I did when I finished 1****st**** Year): **

**There will be a Weasley family chapter; a Hogsmeade visit and it'll just be a fun, happy year for them. :D Not really teasers, but yeah not much drama in the upcoming chapters!**

**Thank you SO much again for the reviews and for putting this story on alert! Please continue to do the same! Even if it is just to say how bad this chapter is :P**

**Look out for the next chapter!**


	7. The Weasleys

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 7: The Weasleys.

It was the end of summer and Rose was going through an internal dilemma – should she tell her parents about being friends with Scorpius, or not? Yes, they were now friends… kind of. Rose sighed heavily, she didn't really know if they were friends or not, and that's partly why she was putting off telling her parents. The other reason for not telling them was that she had no idea what their reaction would be to this news, and she didn't really want to find out.

* * *

><p><em>She was leaving McGonagall's office in a kind of daze and she hadn't yet processed the fact that it was Scorpius Malfoy who had helped her out of the forest. He came out of the office just after her and was walking by her side silently. Esmeralda was still in the office, presumably getting told off for leaving Rose alone in the woods. Rose had no idea if she was actually mad at Esmeralda for doing that, as that is typical Esmeralda behavior, or just mad at herself for freaking out in the woods when she's supposed to be a brave Gryffindor. Scorpius seemed angry though, as he had instantly put the blame on Esmeralda, which again was surprising behavior for Scorpius. He had received 75 points for rescuing Rose, but Esmeralda lost 100 points and Rose lost 50, which put Gryffindor down by 75 points… (In the end Gryffindor still won the House Cup). <em>

"_Are you… uh…. okay?" She turned her head, so she could see Scorpius' concerned eyes, and she nodded mutely. She was still kind of embarrassed for fainting for the second time in Hogwarts. She gave an internal groan, as tomorrow people would probably be making fun of her for it. _

_She started walking a little faster, as she didn't particularly want to talk to Scorpius at that moment, despite the fact that he just saved her. He quickened up his pace as well. Then she thought she should probably pluck up some of that Gryffindor courage she had been hiding earlier that night… it's time to be brave and not run away from her problems; there were some things that needed to be discussed. She abruptly stopped and Scorpius did the same._

"_Why did you come to… rescue me from the forest?" She asked slowly, feeling instantly stupid for asking that question. He avoided her gaze, and instead focused on his fingers._

"_Well, I'm friends with Albus now…"She felt like snorting at this answer, and she felt her anger at Albus and Scorpius build up all over again._

"_Oh, so that's the only reason, is it?" She snapped at him. He looked slightly taken aback at this outburst. "Why are you even 'friends' with him? And why were you so horrible to me before?" He paused, and looked like he didn't really want to say what he was about to say, but he went ahead anyway._

"_You were nice to me before, and I didn't think I deserved it… especially from you, because you're a… Weasley. Anyway, my Father told me to stay away from you lot." She remembered how she felt when he got angry in the common room the year before, and she couldn't help, but feel her heart nearly breaking again as he mentioned both of their families. _

"_So, why now? Why are you talking to me now?" She asked in a much gentler voice, as he turned his face to her direction, so they were now looking directly at each other._

"_I don't know… Because of Albus I guess." _

"_Right…" Those were the last words spoken that night, and over the last few weeks they began to talk more and more (and she had forgiven Albus for being friends with him), as she was no longer really friends with Esme. But she couldn't be sure if Scorpius saw her as a friend._

* * *

><p>"Dinner." Her eyes shot open, and she realized her grumpy little brother, Hugo, was standing in her doorway.<p>

"I'm coming…" She muttered, while slowly standing up from her bed. She knew this was the last chance she was going to get, as she was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow, but she really didn't want to.

'_I'm a Gryffindor, I'm a Gryffindor, I'm a Gryffindor_' she murmured to herself, as she descended the stairs to the kitchen.

Her brother was sulkily sitting at his chair, (Rose couldn't quite believe that he was so grumpy despite the fact he was about to start his first year at Hogwarts tomorrow), while her Dad and Mum were debating over whether or not it was wise that they had listened to Hugo's request and gotten him a rat. Rose tried to hide her smile, as she saw the rat, Scabbers the Second, chewing through the tablecloth. She picked him off the table in one sweeping motion and kept him in the cardboard box he was currently residing in.

"Oh, Rose… there you are." Her mother smiled warmly at her, "Have you packed everything for tomorrow?"

"Yes, Mum." She started serving herself some potatoes and put some on Hugo's plate, as well.

There was a long silence, as everyone started eating. Rose decided that now was the only time she would be able to tell the truth about her friendship with Scorpius before her Mum and Dad started debating again.

'_I'm a Gryffindor, I'm a Gryffindor._'

"Mum… Dad," she began, and her parents lifted their heads from their meals to look at her expectantly. "Well, I- um…"

"What is it, Rosie?" Ron asked her, but the question was a bit muffled, because his mouth was stuffed with potatoes.

"I'm friends with Scorpius Malfoy." The sentence kind of tumbled out of Rose's mouth due to her nerves. Hermione's mouth formed a perfect 'O' shape and she turned to face Ron, who was looking a little flustered himself. Hermione soon snapped out of her momentary shock and turned back to face Rose.

"You wrote so many letters saying you thought he was, 'horrible, arrogant and an all-around Malfoy…' didn't you?" She asked very calmly, which made Rose feel a little better, but she couldn't help but cringe at the words she had previously used to describe Scorpius. She had sent _one_ letter saying that towards the end of her first year, and of course felt a little ashamed of herself for saying those things.

"Yeah, we've got the letter to prove it." Ron muttered for no particular reason, perhaps it was just to show Hermione that he remembered the content of all Rose's letters as well.

"Yes, but I was wrong." Rose said solemnly… She hated being wrong about things; clearly this was something she got from her mother.

"What changed your mind?" Hermione asked, again she was very calm.

"Well…" She sighed, this was where she would have to bend the truth a little bit. "We had just finished Herbology class and I tripped up over a… ummm… twig – yes, a pretty big twig - and Scorpius helped me up. He also offered to take me to the Hospital Ward if I needed to go."

Again the words were tumbling out of her mouth, but this time it was because she was lying… she hated lying, especially to her parents. She just couldn't bring herself to tell them she had gone to the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night for no real reason, other than her closest friend was forcing her to do so.

"That was a nice thing to do!" Hermione exclaimed, with a bright smile on her face. Scorpius had in fact done so much more than just help her up and offer to take her to the Ward, but of course Rose couldn't say that. "I think it's wonderful that you two are friends!"

"You do?" Rose and Ron asked in unison, both absolutely stunned with her statement.

"Yes, I do." She said happily, but her eyes met Ron's and there was some sort of unsaid understanding between them that Rose could not possibly understand; Hermione's smile began to fade into a much more serious expression. "Rose, it is wonderful, but just make sure… well… oh, never mind."

"I'm fine if you want to be friends with him, but if he acts in any way like his Father, then I won't be fine with it… You know how I feel about the Malfoys." Ron put his hand over Hermione's and gave it a little squeeze. Rose immediately knew this was all linked back to their time at Hogwarts… and when her mother was tortured at the Malfoy Manor. She gave a little shudder and got back to eating her food.

_I should be feeling relieved right now, but I don't. Telling my parents about Scorpius should make things easier, right? Why does it just feel like things are going to get harder from now on?_

**A/N: ATTENTION PLEASE! Someone suggested in the reviews that I skip to 6****th**** and 7****th**** year so that we can get to the drama. I did kind of have a plan for my whole story, but if the majority of you feel this way then I can skip to 5****th**** year (there will be drama then, trust me). If you don't all feel this way then I'll just continue on with 3****rd**** and 4****th**** year. **

**Please let me know your thoughts in the reviews or PM me! :) **

**And I probably will not be able to update for a while, sorry!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	8. Hogsmeade

Yes, this is a Year 3 chapter and there will be one more for Year 3. I've decided to stick to my original plan :)

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. This is all kind of related to HP or JKR, so none of this is mine. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 8: Hogsmeade

_The lady with dark red hair is now staring outside the frosty window at all the stores she had grown so familiar with. The party is taking place in Hogsmeade, which is where she is currently living, and is one of her favorite places in the world despite some of the unhappy memories she has of here… The first time she went here must trump all the unhappy visits._

* * *

><p>"Rosie, are you almost done with that letter?" Albus asked, not even bothering to hide his impatience. Rose was carefully reading the latest letter from her parents, but with an annoyed huff stood up.<p>

"If you're going to complain about how long I'm taking, then you should at least be ready to go yourself." She said with her intimidating glare focused on Albus. He stuffed one final piece of toast in his mouth and hurriedly stood, meanwhile Scorpius was putting on his coat and picking some specks of invisible dust off of it.

"My Mum says she hopes all _three _of us have a great time in Hogsmeade!" Rose stated, beaming in Scorpius' direction. He too smiled back, but he couldn't help feeling slightly guilty…

He hadn't told his parents yet about Albus _or_ Rose, but she thought he had, so he had just been going along with it. The only thing that was making him feel any better was that Albus hadn't really wanted to tell his parents, but Rose had let slip to her parents and they informed Albus'. The scary thing was that they all seemed fine with it; Hermione, Ron, Harry… all of them. So, of course Scorpius just said that his parents were fine with it as well.

They were now strolling towards the exit of The Great Hall, where they could see fellow third years lining up to go to Hogsmeade.

"Rose! Albus!" A tiny voice squeaked from the Gryffindor table. They turned to see Lily and Hugo sitting down. "Oh, hi Scorpius…" she added, with a shy smile.

"Lily!" Albus called enthusiastically, before starting to tickle her.

"Ugh… stop… stop… STOP IT, AL!" She shouted, in between fits of laughter. Finally he stopped and she continued, "Anyway, have fun today! We can't wait till we can go to Hogsmeade! Oh, Albus will you buy some sweets for Hugo and me?" Hugo gave a small grunt. Albus distorted his facial features, so he looked like he was in deep thought.

"Hmm… only if you pay me." Lily sighed, as if she expected this response.

"_Yes,_ we can pay for the sweets."

"_No_, you have to pay me extra for being the nicest brother in the world." Lily groaned, but Rose stepped in.

"I'll get them for you two and you don't have to pay me anything… It'll be an early Christmas present!" Scorpius smiled, he always forgot how nice Rose could be.

"Great! Thank you, Rosie!" Lily exclaimed, and Hugo said 'Great' a little less excitedly.

"No problem. You two have fun!"

"It's going to be boring, like every Saturday." Hugo groaned.

"Oh, cheer up Hugo!" Rose snapped, before turning to leave.

Scorpius, while looking back over his shoulder at Hugo and Lily, muttered, "Is he always like that?"

"Yes!" Rose and Albus answered simultaneously.

* * *

><p>They finally reached the front of the line and handed over their permission slips that their parents had signed, to Professor Hughes.<p>

"I assume you've finished that essay on Boggarts, Potter!" He said in his natural booming voice.

"Err… of course I have!" Albus gave a lopsided grin at him before walking hurriedly away. Rose and Scorpius smirked at each other while catching up with Albus, before Scorpius muttered,

"And… you haven't."

"No, but I paid another third year to do it for me." He shrugged, but couldn't wipe off his stupid grin. Rose slapped him on his arm.

"That's horrible, Albus!" She exclaimed. Albus responded by just throwing one of his arms around Rose and the other around Scorpius.

"Yeah, yeah Rosie… Now let's go have some fun!"

* * *

><p>Forty-five minutes later, all three of them were sitting down on a fallen down log, and shivering. Rose sighed.<p>

"I'm sorry Albus, but I think James was lying when he said there was a ghost of a Werewolf in the Shrieking Shack." She placed a hand sympathetically on his shoulder, but he shoved it off and walked closer to the fence that ran around the Shrieking Shack.

Rose shuffled closer to Scorpius and turned to face him.

"What should we do?" Rose breathed, as she knew Albus would be in a very bad mood because he would feel stupid that he listened to another one of James' lies.

"Persuade him to do something _inside_?" Scorpius whispered back. Rose nodded, as her teeth chattered furiously.

"Albus!"

"What?" Albus turned around and replied grumpily. Rose and Scorpius couldn't help but snigger at the sulky expression on Albus' face.

"We're freezing!" They said in unison.

* * *

><p>A little while later they were sipping on Butterbeers in The Three Broomsticks. Albus still looked thoroughly disappointed at the lack of Werewolf ghosts at the Shrieking Shack. Rose raised her eyebrows in Albus' direction, as an indication for Scorpius to say something to cheer him up. Scorpius cleared his throat and nudged Albus.<br>"How are Quidditch practices going?" Albus shrugged in reply. They were all on the Quidditch teams; Albus was a Seeker like his Father was before him, Scorpius was a Seeker too, Rose was a Chaser, and Esmeralda was a Beater (many people said she was the best beater in Gryffindor History).

"Seriously Albus, it's not that big a deal." In her annoyance with her cousin, Rose was grinding her teeth together as she said this.

"I've spent three years thinking there was going to be something exciting up in the Shrieking Shack." He moaned back.

"UH, Albus, your parents, my parents, and basically all the adults you know had previously come to Hogwarts… You could have just asked one of them if it was true!" Rose raised her voice, so it was almost a shout. Albus didn't reply, but just concentrated on his Butterbeer. Rose folded her arms and scowled over at Albus.

Scorpius sat awkwardly in-between them, and was looking back and forth at their grumpy faces. He let out a loud sigh and decided this was not how he was going to spend the rest of his day in Hogsmeade. He gulped down the rest of his Butterbeer and clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Let's go outside!" He said in the most upbeat tone he could manage. Rose and Albus stared at him as if he was crazy, so he said a little louder and sterner, "Now."

The snow had started up again, even though the floor was already thickly covered in it.

"Rose!" Esmeralda waved manically from a bench, which she was sitting on with a boy, who was in the year above. Rose half-smiled and waved back.

"You're still friends with _her_?" Albus pulled a face of utter disgust at Rose, and before she could respond with what was probably going to be an insult, Scorpius stepped in.

"It was a while ago, Albus. If Rose doesn't care about it anymore, then we shouldn't either." Albus gaped at Scorpius, and Rose just smiled up at him.

"Thank you, Scorpius," He gave a little nod in her direction, "Besides she's on our Quidditch team _and _she's my Duelling partner."

"Whatever, Rosie." Albus groaned, and began kicking at the snow like a tiny child would do if he were in a bad mood. "What are we doing out here anyway?"

"We're playing." Scorpius dragged Rose away by her arm, so they were standing at a little distance from Albus.

He threw a snowball at Albus' face, which just made him look grumpier. He dramatically wiped the snow off his face as he moaned,

"I wasn't ready."  
>"Hey, don't you think we should start calling him Hugo Sr." Rose started cackling at this, and Scorpius was joining in the laughter as well. But mid-laugh he was hit in the head with a snowball, and then one hit Rose.<p>

"The third Wizarding War starts now!" Albus shouted, and then snowballs were flying in all directions.

They played in the snow for what must have been hours. Firstly it was just the three of them, but later on others joined, including Esmeralda, who just seemed to concentrate on hitting Albus, but he was in a much better mood, so he didn't complain once about her playing with them. In the evening before they had to go back, they made snow angels and bought the sweets for Lily and Hugo, and Scorpius bought a Chocolate Frog for both Albus, Rose and himself.

Yes, it had turned into quite a perfect day…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh my God, your reviews made me smile so much! Thank you for responding to my question. And I've decided that my previous plan for the story wouldn't work so well if I skipped years, so that's why I'm sticking to 3****rd**** year right now. I have no idea when the next chapter will be out because I've got exams coming up. **

**Please continue to review :D**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	9. Unicorn

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love for this to be all mine, anything related to HP belongs to the fabulous JKR. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 9: Unicorns

It was early Spring and 3rd year was turning into a blur of lessons, homework, duelling club classes, Quidditch practices and games, more trips to Hogsmeade, eating (mostly on Albus' part) and sleeping.

Scorpius felt a sharp poke in his back and didn't even need to turn around to know it was Albus. He had already been walking down to Care of Magical Creatures class with Rose and Esmeralda (she started spending a bit of time with both of them, although she usually avoided Albus), but Albus had a different class beforehand so he was just catching up with them now.

"Hey Scorp, Rosie," he started cheerily, swinging his arms over both of them as they continued walking, but his face grew sour as turned to Esmeralda and he simply stated, "Gremlin."

"Potter." She said with an equal level of disgust. They glowered at each other for a few moments until Rose broke the silence with a groan. She hastily removed Albus' arm from her shoulder and began to rub the place where his arm just was.

"What is it?" Scorpius asked, although he already had a good idea of why she was in pain.

"Duelling club." She said as a way of explanation and giving a meaningful glance in Esmeralda's direction. She gave a sheepish smile and shrug,  
>"Not my fault I'm so brilliant at duelling." Albus let out a huge snort at this.<p>

"Sure, whatever you say _Gremlin_. If it was you and me duelling, you wouldn't stand a chance."

"A duel with you? Hah, you're rubbish though!" He looked offended at this, but didn't have time to retort, as they could hear their Professor calling the 3rd years to hurry up.

When they eventually turned the corner, past Hagrid's Hut – he still lived there, but didn't teach classes anymore. All the Potters and Weasleys frequently went there for tea though. – Rose froze on the spot.

"_Merlin_, look Rose!" Esmeralda said in awe, approaching a paddock containing two unicorns. Scorpius glanced from the unicorns to Rose with complete bewilderment apparent on his face. Rose was still fixed to the spot with the strangest expression that could only be described as a mixture of euphoria and confusion on her face.

"She absolutely _loves_ unicorns." Esmeralda said, while stroking the unicorn closest to her.

"Crazy about them." Albus agreed, while checking the sharpness of the unicorn's horn.

Rose started to walk closer to the unicorns in a kind of dream state. When she started to stroke the unicorn, she started laughing with happiness. Scorpius spent most of the class tuning out the Professor and instead just watching her with the unicorns. He had never seen her so happy and her smile just seemed to light up the whole world. That day he had unconsciously made it his goal to see her smile like that again.

* * *

><p>"Ugh… the smell in this room is just enough to make you faint." Rose complained in a hushed voice to Albus and Scorpius. She was referring to the overwhelming smell of scented candles and incense sticks that was present in their Divination classroom in the North Tower. Professor Meadows, who had only recently started working at Hogwarts since Professor Trelawney, was busy talking to herself. Rose rolled her eyes; apparently Professor McGonagall was very happy that they could get a 'proper' Seer (although she apparently didn't think there was such a thing), but Rose thought Professor Meadows was pretty pointless as well. Her Mother had advised her not to take this subject, but Rose had argued with her over it and eventually won. However now she deeply regretted choosing this.<p>

"Rosie, anything can make you faint though." Albus said before bursting out into laughter, which Scorpius joined in with. Rose turned a bright shade of red; she hated being reminded about either of her fainting incidences. She caught Scorpius' eye and they shared an awkward smile at the memory of the most recent fainting incident.

Scorpius was acting more and more weird as the year was progressing… Well, that wasn't fair. He was being fine, but Rose couldn't help feeling that there was a barrier between them that wasn't allowing them to be better friends… best friends. She had no idea what it was though and why it felt like he was pushing her away. She shook her head trying to shake that feeling out of her.

"Today, as you can see, we will be examining our futures through the use of the crystal ball." Professor Meadows announced in her dreamy voice. Albus began sticking his nose up to the glass of the ball, obviously trying to see something other than the hazy smoke that seemed to fill up the ball. Scorpius was polishing it with his robes as if there was a smear on it. Rose just let out a long sigh and placed her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands.

"How about we take a look at Rose's future." Clearly Rose wasn't very discrete with her sigh, so Professor Meadows picked her out from the class. Rose automatically sat up straight and ignored the sniggers coming from both Albus and Scorpius. _Honestly, _she thought, _Scorpius is turning into Albus' lapdog… Just laughing at anything he laughs at, or following whatever he does…_

"Do we have a volunteer to help examine the crystal ball?" There were a few muffled responses, but nobody volunteered. "Twenty house points to whoever volunteers…" Albus' arm shot up at this and Professor Meadows grinned with her wonky teeth on display.

"So, that's twenty points for Gryffindor." Albus crinkled his nose up in confusion and shook his head.

"Uhh… Professor, I'm in Slytherin." Then, with a gesture at Rose and Scorpius, he added for no real reason, "They're both in Gryffindor, not me." Professor Meadows gaped at this, as if it was completely new information to her.

"I thought you were in Gryffindor and he was in Slytherin." She muttered with an awkward laugh. Then she threw up her hands as if to dismiss the whole situation.

"Fine, 20 points to _Slytherin_." Scorpius sucked on his lips and he avoided looking at the others, as this whole conversation took place. And Rose realized what was wrong. Scorpius - even after three years - was still annoyed about not being in Slytherin, maybe not annoyed, but he definitely wasn't happy about being in Gryffindor. This aggravated Rose, because how much more welcoming could she be to him? How could he not feel like a Gryffindor after being there for three whole years?

"So, what do you see Albus?" He was concentrating hard on the ball, but Rose knew he didn't really have skills in Divination, so expected a rubbish answer.

"Uh… a unicorn." Scorpius snorted at his answer and Rose felt her anger continuing to build inside of her. Professor Meadows looked thoughtfully at the ball and nodded in agreement.

"I see that too." Rose blinked several times in disbelief before being able to string a sentence together.

"Well, that's very original… We just saw two unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures class." Professor Meadows first looked very taken aback by Rose's aggressive response.

"That's what I see…. It could be the memory of what just happened or highlighting something that will happen in the future relating to unicorns." Professor Meadows was looking rather scared of Rose, as her cheeks began to grow red to match with her hair.

"Oh, please enlighten me on what else the ball says." Her voice was thick with sarcasm and she hated herself as soon as the words rolled off her tongue, but she was too angry to really care.

"Hmmm… there is trouble coming for you." Rose rolled her eyes more dramatically and over-the-top than she had ever done before. "Someone is lying about something that will hurt you. You will keep a secret from your parents. I see you in a white -" Rose pushed the ball away from her and glared angrily at Professor Meadows.

"I don't think you can even gather that information from a _stupid_ ball." She stood up angrily from her seat and started marching towards the door.

"I QUIT!"

"But, Miss Weasley, it is almost the end of -" But she was already out the door.

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other with different expressions on their faces; Albus with one of amusement and Scorpius with one of concern.

"Well, that was a Hermione Granger-Weasley reaction."

**A/N: Sorry this is so late! I finished my exams about a week ago, but it's taken a while to get this chapter out. This is the last of 3****rd**** year and there will be about four chapters for 4****th**** year. I want to get the next two chapters out before Christmas, because there's going to be a Christmas ball type thing happening in the 11****th**** chapter. **

**Anyway, thanks for sticking with this story so far! And keep reviewing/alerting etc.**

**TheCheeryCherry x **


	10. Dates

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love for this to be all mine, anything related to HP belongs to the fabulous JKR. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 10: Dates

Rose was being asked out to a Ball. Yes, to the Christmas Ball that was now becoming an event that happened once every five years, so that most students at Hogwarts could enjoy it once or twice during their Hogwarts experience. Anyway Rose Weasley was now being asked to be the date of Lysander Scamander, which was a name she had previously laughed at many times with Albus and Scorpius. She glanced over Lysander's shoulder to see both Albus and Scorpius shamelessly watching herself and Lysander.

She had decided after her outburst in the Divination classroom last year that she should just ignore the fact that Scorpius clearly didn't want to be a Gryffindor. At the end of the day him wanting to be a Slytherin didn't affect their friendship… or it shouldn't anyway. Over the summer they had become more distant. She sent him five letters over the course of the holidays and he had replied to only three of them. She really did want to know why this housing situation was causing a rift in their friendship, but Rose was definitely not a confrontational person, hence why she had decided before to just ignore this matter in the first place.

She couldn't help but shake her head and let out a small groan.

"Uhm… is something wrong, Rosie?" He asked her in a sweet, cautious way, but she shuddered all the same. The only people who were allowed to call her Rosie were family members. Scorpius had gotten a hex threat for accidentally calling her that. Esmeralda was another exception to the rule of not calling her Rosie, but she rarely called her that anyway.

"Oh, no. Nothing's wrong. Sorry…" She went back to focusing on Lysander, but realized that he already finished talking and was now waiting for an answer from her. Well, she liked Lysander enough to want to go to the Ball, besides it's not like she had many other offers.

"Yes." She said simply, plastering a huge smile on her face. He looked relieved at her response and awkwardly nodded before walking off to the Ravenclaw table. Rose took a deep breath before heading off to her own table.

* * *

><p>"Do you think he's asking her to the Ball?" Scorpius asked Albus, as they stared at Rose and Lysander standing opposite each other by the doors to the Great Hall.<p>

"Probably." Albus shrugged, stuffing another piece of toast in his mouth.

"Uh-oh, McGonagall is looking over in this direction again. I should eat with the Slytherins for lunch." McGonagall wasn't a huge fan of Albus sitting with the Gryffindors at every chance he could get. Esmeralda strolled over from the Hufflepuff table to where the two boys were sitting.

"Hello losers, what are you both staring at?" She frowned at them, while buttering a piece of toast. Scorpius stuck his thumb in the direction of Rose and Lysander, and Esmeralda nodded in understanding.

"Gremlin, why were you just with the Hufflepuffs?"

"Just getting another invitation to the Ball." Esmeralda said with a flick of her long, untamed brown hair. Albus gave an uncomfortable cough before asking his next question.

"And will you being saying yes to the surely charming Hufflepuff?" Esmeralda gave a small laugh and raised her eyebrows.

"No, I will not. I will never, _ever _date a Hufflepuff… Anyway looks like our Rosie has a date now. How about you two?"

Albus and Scorpius glanced at each other uncomfortably.

"We haven't asked anyone." Scorpius said, looking slightly sheepish as he said this.

"_What? _Are you two going to be each other's dates? How sweet." She laughed very loudly this time, just as Rose sat back down at the table.  
>"What's going on?" Rose asked, a little curious smile playing on her lips.<br>"They don't have dates… But it looks like you do!" Esmeralda raised one eyebrow cheekily at her and Rose immediately began to blush. "Tell me all about it on the way to Potions."

"Fine…." Rose said reluctantly, as Esmeralda began to pull her up from the bench. "See you two in class!"

"Time is ticking." She gave a little smirk before turning to talk excitedly with Rose.

Albus and Scorpius sighed instantaneously, as they walked away.

* * *

><p>"I don't even want to go to the Ball with a girl." Albus moaned, as he helped Scorpius brew the Wiggenweld Potion. Scorpius looked over at Rose, who seemed to be having some difficulty with her potion, and then nodded in agreement.<p>

Scorpius had thought that Rose wouldn't get asked on a date and they could all go together. He didn't know why he just assumed this, as Rose was undeniably… pretty, but he just had. Now she was going on a date, shouldn't he as well?

"My Dad and Uncle Ron ended up going to the Ball with girls they didn't really like, so they didn't have a good time. I don't want to be like that; I would rather have fun at the Ball than go with a girl, because it's 'tradition'." Scorpius again nodded, but was concentrating on making sure the potion was the right colour. He didn't know why, but it just wasn't turning the right shade of green.

"Have you even got something to wear for it, Scorp?" Albus continued asking questions, and wasn't even paying attention to the potion anymore. Scorpius was too busy checking the ingredients list to respond though. "Scorp…. Scorp? Are you listening?"

"We didn't add the Boom Berry juice. Argh…" Scorpius groaned, as he realized what they had done wrong. He basically ran to the storeroom to search for the juice. _How could I be so careless? I've never forgotten an ingredient before…_

While searching he could hear the distant voices of Esmeralda and Rose. Their table was right by the storeroom, so that's why he was able to hear them; also Esmeralda just had a naturally loud voice.

"Right, we just have to keep stirring it until the bubbles settle." Rose was saying in a hurried, business-like voice.

"Yeah, yeah… Anyway, what colour is your dress going to be?" Rose sighed, as if she didn't want to go off-topic, but when she replied it was obvious she was smiling.

"It's green." Scorpius pictured her in a green dress and knew she would look wonderful. Then he realized why he was supposed to be in the storeroom and continued searching for the Boom Berry juice, and attempted to ignore them.

"Yay, mine's red. So, we won't be matching." Esmeralda said excitedly. "Make sure Lysander is wearing some green as well. Albus and Scorpius can wear matching colours too, as they're going together." She cackled away as she said this. Scorpius frowned; now he was going to _have_ to ask someone before he turned into a joke along with Albus.

"Wait, have you even decided on your date yet? You might end up going alone as well." Rose said, letting out a small laugh.

_She's saying that as if I most definitely will be going alone and nobody would want to go with me…_ Scorpius finally found the juice and with a low growl, exited the room.

"Still deciding." Esmeralda said thoughtfully. Scorpius froze. He knew who he was going to ask.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Esme!" Scorpius called after Potions class, as soon as he saw that she was alone. She turned around and realizing it was him, began to smile.<p>

"Yes?" She stopped walking and stood in the middle of the corridor waiting for him to continue.

"Well… I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the Ball together?" Esmeralda blinked several times, and then distorted her face into one of apparent confusion.

"What? Do you… do you like me or something? I though you liked -"

"What? No, I don't." There was an awkward silence, as Esmeralda tried to think of the right response.

"Okay…" She drew out the word to break the silence. "Then why are you asking me?"

"I know people will just make jokes about Albus and me going to the Ball alone -"

"Together."

"No. Anyway, I don't want to ask any girl, so I thought it would be better if I asked a friend. And -" Esmeralda put up her hand as a gesture for him to stop talking.

"Okay. The guys that have asked me have been right weirdos anyway." They exchanged smiles and eventually walked off in opposite directions.

He didn't know if she was going to tell Rose or not, and he didn't really know whether he even wanted her to tell Rose or not.

**A/N: Not too sure how I feel about this chapter, but yeah, here it is. Next chapter will probably be up on Saturday and I guess that's my Christmas present to all of you guys! Now I make it sound like something exciting is going to happen… It's not exciting; Ch13 is the one where a lot of stuff happens! ;D Now before I give anything away or hype things up too much I'm going to go.**

**Thanks again for the reviews; they're putting the biggest smile on my face!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	11. The Christmas Ball

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love for this to be all mine, anything related to HP belongs to the fabulous JKR. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 11: The Christmas Ball

Scorpius was dressed in a suit and felt like a complete idiot. He stood next to the main stairs in front of the Great Hall, shuffling his feet awkwardly. Girls usually made their grand entrance down these stairs, so there were many other boys standing around waiting for their dates. Scorpius kept casting his eyes upwards to look out for Esmeralda, but she still wasn't there. He glanced around the entrance to the Great Hall and his eyes landed on Albus. He hurriedly waved him over.

"Why are you standing here?" Albus said, cocking an eyebrow at him as he reached Scorpius.

"Waiting for Esme." He responded with a little impatient sigh. His back was now turned away from the stairs, so he could see everyone else entering the ball.

"I can't believe you're actually going with her." He said in absolute disbelief. He turned towards Scorpius to give him a sharp poke in the shoulder.

"What? I told you I was asking her." Albus snorted at this before responding.

"I thought it was a bad joke or something…" Scorpius wasn't sure if Albus had planned on saying anything else, but he froze at the end of the sentence. Albus' eyes were transfixed on a spot above Scorpius' shoulder. His mouth was hanging open before he finally snapped out of it to say, "There she is." He pointed dumbly at the staircase.

Scorpius slowly turned around to see a girl walking down the stairs. After a second he realized who it actually was, Esmeralda Gremler. Her hair was no longer untamed, but was in perfect, tight curls and elegantly swept to the side. Her dress was a deep red and was tightly sticking to her skin, so it looked like it was difficult to walk in. She really did look beautiful, not that she didn't always, but usually it was a raw, wild beauty. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her green eyes seemed to dazzle with excitement.

"Hello Scorpius," she began coolly, "And Potter." She added giving a curt nod in his direction. Albus coughed awkwardly before replying,

"Gremlin. You look… different."

"You look really nice." Scorpius added, trying to make up for Albus' usual behavior.

"Thank you. Shall we head in?" Scorpius nodded, eager to escape the corridor filled with nervous boys. "Have fun waiting for your invisible date, Potter." She added to Albus, while he sucked his bottom lip in apparent annoyance that Scorpius assumed to be because of the fact that Albus didn't have a date so was now going to be by himself for the majority of the night.

Scorpius sucked in his breath, as he entered the Great Hall. To say it looked amazing would be an understatement. There was a gigantic Christmas tree at the front of the Great Hall, where the teachers usually dined. Also, what appeared to be a small ice-skating rink was in the corner by the tree. Ice sculptures were decorating the circular tables that were set especially for the Ball. There was a live band with a space cleared for the dance floor. Scorpius couldn't help but wince slightly at the sight of the dance floor. One thing Scorpius hated was dancing; he was silently praying that Esme hated it too.

"Care for a dance?" She asked in a mocking, posh voice, while holding her hand out delicately for Scorpius to take. She must have noticed his face fall, for she dropped her hand instantly and began to smirk. "Here's me thinking you were the perfect gentleman, but now I've discovered your weakness."

"Sorry…" Scorpius mumbled, although he had no idea anybody thought of him as a gentleman.

"_Pleaaaase _dance" Esme said, acting a bit like a small child by crossing her arms, pouting and stamping her feet… well, as much as she could stamp her feet in her skin-tight dress. Scorpius started to smile, but still really did not want to dance.

"I'm not going to make a move on you or anything if that's what you're thinking." Scorpius could only laugh at this and Esme let out a little cackle of laughter too. She attempted to hold out her hand for him to take, and this time he did.

It was a semi-slow song, so they stood quite close together, but it was by no means intimate. They held each other with just their hands and swayed in time with the music. Esmeralda looked desperate to move a little more than that, but her dress was very limiting on her movement. Out of blue, Esmeralda's eyes widened and she shrieked,

"Rose!"

Scorpius turned around faster than lightning to see Rose waving awkwardly at Esmeralda. She looked perfect… Her dress was puffy and a rich emerald green. Her hair was loosely tied up, so that flyaway hairs framed her face perfectly. She was elegantly linking arms with her date, which for some reason made Scorpius clench his fists a little. He walked slowly over to them and forced himself to smile.

"You look_ amazing_!" Esmeralda was gushing, but Rose was looking at Scorpius and smiling hesitantly at him.

"Hey Scorp." She said quietly, then her eyes flickered between Esmeralda and Scorpius, and she seemed to realize what was happening. "So, you two did come together… That's great… perfect!"

"I told you already." Esme said bemusedly, while crinkling her face in confusion.

"Yeah, sorry." Rose said with a little shake of her head. There was an awkward silence before Lysander visibly pulled Rose closer to himself and Rose seemed to remember who she was with.

"Shall we dance then, Rosie?" He asked, and Rose winced slightly before nodding her head. Scorpius knew how much she hated people outside of her family calling her that; although she had no idea that nearly everyone called her Rosie behind her back.

* * *

><p>It was nearly nine o'clock and the party really was in full swing. This was clear from the dance floor being completely packed and the fact that some of the Seventh years were now drunk from smuggled-in firewhiskey. Scorpius and Esmeralda were sitting at an empty table watching the other people dance; Scorpius had drawn the line at three dances much to Esme's disappointment.<p>

For the past minute Scorpius had been watching Lysander and Rose sway to a slow piece of music. Rose's head was resting lightly on Lysander's shoulder, and he looked far too happy about this in Scorpius' opinion. Breaking into his thoughts, Esme cleared her throat loudly.

"I'm just going to ask this once… Do you like her?" She said, while Scorpius hurriedly turned his attention away from Rose.

"Uhm… as a friend?" Esme cocked her head to one side and gave him a look that could only be called the _'You know what I'm talking about'_ look.

"No… no… Definitely not in that way." He said in a rush, as if saying it faster would make a difference.

"_Okkkayyy_…" Esme said slowly, then gestured over towards Rose and continued on, "It's just you keep on looking at her… like _a lot._"

"I was just -"

"It's okay, I believe you." She said holding up her hand to signal he could stop talking. Then she let out a little snigger. "Besides Albus has been looking at Rose for most of the night too, and it can't be because he likes her! I get that it's some protective thing."

Scorpius glanced over at Albus to see him not looking at Rose, but looking at Esmeralda. He turned away quickly, as soon as he saw Scorpius looking over at him.

"Yeah, some protective thing…" He mumbled, and the two of them went back to watching the dancers, or more specifically Rose.

The song ended, so Rose and Lysander pulled apart for a second. However Lysander pulled her back towards him and planted a long kiss on her lips. Rose was struggling in Lysander's embrace and finally managed to pull her body away from his. Esmeralda was in a fit of laughter at the sight of this and turned to Scorpius saying,

"I guess that's not the reaction he wanted." Scorpius laughed as well, and felt suddenly lighter at the sight of the kiss than he had all evening, although he didn't really know why it pleased himself so much.

"Want to go outside?" She asked him, as she began to recover from her laughing fit. Scorpius nodded in reply, and Esme grabbed him by the wrist and ran (well, as fast as you could run in a dress so tight) out the doors.

* * *

><p>They had managed to find a semi-secluded area where they could sit and watch the stars. Esmeralda reached into her bag and pulled out a small flask.<br>"Would you like some of the finest firewhiskey in all of Great Britain?" She said as if she was a salesperson at one of the stores in Diagon Alley.

"Uhmm… sure." She took a swig from it and then handed it over to Scorpius. He takes a big gulp and ends up coughing most of it up.

"Whoa, easy there! It's strong stuff." He tried again, taking a much smaller sip this time. He still found it very strong, but managed to keep it down this time.

"I've always been able to relate to you, you know?" She said somewhat out-of-the-blue, after she took a second swig of the firewhiskey. Scorpius flashed her a puzzled expression, and she took it as a sign to continue. "I'm from a pure-blood family, like you are."

This was completely new information to Scorpius.

"I've never heard of the last name Gremler before though. I know most of the pure-blood families."

"My family originates from Britain, but for the past two hundred years or something they lived in Brazil… I'm half-Brazilian myself. Anyway, my Father and Mother moved back to UK after Voldemort was officially dead. Then my Aunts and Uncles moved here, so I have a few cousins here in Hogwarts. I'm the only one in Gryffindor, so I know how you feel. I should've have mentioned something before, it would've made you feel less alone… I'm sorry."

The alcohol was making Scorpius bitter and he finally felt like telling the truth about how he felt instead of hiding it away.

"It's fine… I still feel alone. I don't belong in Gryffindor; I should be in Slytherin. I sometimes feel like Albus and I have swapped places." Esme smiled at this, but shook her head.

"He's meant to be where he is, and you're meant to be in Gryffindor."

Scorpius was about to open up to her then and there about how much of a Gryffindor her is. About how he couldn't even tell his Father he was friends with Rose and Albus… he wasn't brave, like he was supposed to be. They were interrupted though by a tall boy, who must have been much older than them, with dark hair and a warm skin tone.

"Hello there, Esmeralda!" He called to her, and when Esme realized who it was she mumbled, 'Oh, shit…' under her breath. He stopped a few feet in front of them and squinted at Scorpius.

"And who is this you're with?"

"Uhh… I'm Scorpius." He mumbled unsurely, as Esme refused to speak. The boy's smile grew wider when he heard the name.

"Scorpius? As in Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy?" Scorpius was obviously taken aback at the fact that he knew not only his last name, but his middle name too.

"H-how do you know-?"

"Sorry, let me introduce myself, as my dear cousin has not. " Esmeralda rolled her eyes, as the boy approached the bench that they were sitting on and thrusted his hand in Scorpius' face. "My name is Maximus Gremler… but everyone calls me Max. Pleasure to meet a fine Malfoy."

"Great. Glad you've met each other, but let's go inside now, Scorp!" She said in an urgent tone, which suggested Scorpius didn't really have a choice.

"Come now, Esmeralda. I've always wanted to officially be introduced to a Malfoy; you know I have a… fascination for Malfoys. Would you like to stay and chat, Scorpius?" He spoke in a very old-fashioned way and made very grand gestures whenever he opened his mouth.

Scorpius was in utter shock to say the least. Nobody had ever treated him with admiration before, and he was kind of enjoying it. He was so used to being ashamed of his last name, that he had forgotten what it was like to have someone like the family he was born into.

Esmeralda glared at Max and grabbed Scorpius' shoulder, so she could lean to his ear, and whisper in a sharp voice,

"He's an asshole… Please. Let's go." Scorpius was about to give in and follow Esme, but he decided to revel in this admiration for a little while longer.

"You go. I'll catch up." Esmeralda gaped at him for a second before turning on her heel and marching off.

The last thing she heard was her imbecile of a cousin saying,

"Firewhiskey? Mind if I have some? Now tell me Mr. Malfoy, how on earth did you not get into Slytherin?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know you're thinking, 'It's about time!' But hey, Christmas break was a pretty busy time and my updates are going to be a lot slower over the next few months (I know I'm already updating really slowly), because I'll be distracted with the new series of Skins and uni. :D**

**Okay, so this chapter basically is the start of the drama for the next few chapters. As you know (or should know!) Scorpius has two major dilemmas going on right now; one he does have this inner conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin (and this will be addressed in the next two chapters) and he hasn't told his parents about his friendship with Rose and Albus… You will see what happens with this later on :D Just wanted to say that in case you're thinking the ending of this chapter is out of blue or something.**

**Anyway, sorry this A/N is SO long!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	12. Losing My Best Friend

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love for this to be all mine, anything related to HP belongs to the fabulous JKR. **

_The Red and The Blond_

_I really feel  
>That I'm losing my best friend<br>I can't believe  
>This could be the end <em>

_- No Doubt, Don't Speak_

Chapter 12: Losing My Best Friend

Rose's head snapped in the direction of the door in her cabin as Albus entered with a tight expression.

"I'm guessing you couldn't find him then?" She asked quietly, as Albus shook his head before sitting on the seat opposite her.

"I checked in nearly all cabins, but no sign of him. Maybe he's running late?" He suggested, while peering out the window to see just a few people standing on Platform 9 and ¾ . Rose glanced outside too, but shook her head at Albus' question.

"He's always earlier than us. Maybe… maybe he's in one of the cabins you didn't check." Albus nodded his head in agreement, but remained silent.

Rose sat back in her seat and frowned in deep thought. This was so unlike Scorpius. He always got on the train much earlier than them - that's why she hadn't met his parents yet – and then he would save seats for them and stood in the corridor until they arrived. They weren't able to find him on the train home for Christmas break either. Seriously, what was going on with him? Rose suddenly realized the last time she had seen Scorpius was at the Christmas Ball, the night before they left for the break, and it had only been for a few moments. No letters had been exchanged between them either.

She thought she was worried last year about their friendship, now there was definitely something to worry about.

Rose's head shot up in the direction of the door again as it creaked open. Her head dropped slightly, as she saw it was Esmeralda.

"Hey!" She said grinning at them… well, more at Rose than Albus. After seeing Esmeralda at the Ball looking glamorous, it was strange to see her back to her usual self. Her hair was scraggly with a hundred visible split ends. Her clothes were slightly dirty and she had a scratch on her nose, which was most likely because of her cat, plus her suitcase appeared to be broken as she was clinging it awkwardly to her chest.

"Hi Esme, how was your break?" Rose asked as enthusiastically as she could. Esmeralda flung herself onto the seat next to Rose and bit her lip as she stared at the empty seat opposite her.

"Oh, boring as usual…. Where's Scorpius?" She asked casually, but something like concern sparked in her eyes as she moved her gaze from the empty seat to Rose.

"We've got no idea, Gremlin." Albus said, as if he wanted to make sure nobody had forgotten he was sitting there. Esmeralda sat still for a moment then nodded slowly.

"Well, I've got to fix this bloody suitcase." She pulled out a wand and cleared her throat.

"Oculus Reparo." She mumbled, and her suitcase repaired itself right before their eyes.

Rose was about to ask Esmeralda when she had last seen Scorpius, but Albus shouted "Food!" and Esme clapped her hands excitedly, as the Trolley Lady stopped outside their cabin.

* * *

><p>Five games of Exploding Snap and a ton of food later, they were fast approaching Hogwarts.<p>

"Argh… I don't think I can move from this spot." Albus groaned, while clutching his stomach. Esmeralda simply laughed instead of insulting him in some way, like she usually would mostly because of the fact that she had eaten too much food as well.

"Well, you're going to have to move to go change into your robes." Rose stated, while giving him a little poke.

"Ouch! Fine, I'm going." He let out one more groan before sliding off his seat and dramatically crawling to the cabin door.

"You're overdoing it now, Potter." Esmeralda giggled, while giving him a small kick so he would move out the door.

As soon as Albus was out the door, Rose shifted in her seat so she was facing Esmeralda.

"Esme?" She received a small 'uh-huh' in reply. "Do you know what's wrong with Scorpius? Why isn't he here?"

Esmeralda took a deep breath before answering.

"Do you remember I told you about my cousin? Max?" Rose knew this was going to be bad. Esmeralda had mentioned briefly about her cousins that attended Hogwarts and that Max was by far the worst out of them. He was a Slytherin and he contributed to the bad reputation that Slytherins have. He had this weird fascination with the Dark Arts History and was one of the very few who favored a pure bloodline. He liked to cause trouble at school and this was his final year at Hogwarts.

"He met Scorpius and obviously wanted to talk to him… I think Scorpius liked the attention Max was giving him." Rose exhaled deeply as she began to tell Esmeralda about the fears she had over Scorpius this past year.

"He wants to be in Slytherin, not Gryffindor. He doesn't think he belongs in Gryffindor."

"Yup, and now Max has him." Rose simply shook her head and stared out the window. She found it difficult to appreciate the beautiful landscape that stretched out before her due to the heavy load on her mind.

* * *

><p>She saw him as they were approaching the thestral drawn carriages (although Rose was unable to see the thestrals). Rose was hoping he would be by himself, but unfortunately Max and two other older students were with him.<p>

"Look, there's Scorpius! Why is he with _Maximus_?" Albus said, putting an emphasis on the last word to show his disgust for that person. Rose took a deep breath and glanced in Esmeralda's direction.

"I should go talk to him." She said at last and Esme nodded back.

"I'll explain the situation to Potter here."

Walking over to Scorpius felt like the longest walk in her life and when she finally reached close enough to them, all she wanted to do was run the other way. Too late.

"A Weasley! Well, this should be interesting." Max said with a smirk playing on his lips. Rose bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. Darn, she was already finding him annoying! With his stupid posh accent and his silly hand gestures.

Scorpius twirled around to face Rose when he heard this. His face was a mixture of confusion and sheepishness. Rose parted her lips slightly to say something, but the words didn't come out, so they just stared intensely at each other for a moment until Max broke the silence.

"Please Weasley, if you have something to say then say it now… or forever hold your peace." The other two brain-dead guys sniggered at this. _That wasn't even funny…_

"Scorpius… What's going on?" She asked, feeling pathetic for asking such a stupid question.

"He's found new friends, little girl." Max stated in a slightly amused voice, as if this was all highly entertaining to him. Rose could feel her cheeks burning in anger.

"I was asking Scorpius, not you." She snarled at him.

"Quite a temper… Guessing you get that from your father?" Her hand inched closer to the wand she kept in the pocket of her robes. She turned her attention back to Scorpius, who looked like he was still struggling with what to say.

"I know you think you should be with people like _them_," She pointed in the direction of Max. "But you really don't. You're so much better than them and I wish you could see that. Please come back to where you belong."

Her eyes were beginning to smart, so she didn't say anything else in the fear that she would begin to cry. She wished she had something to him earlier when she first realized he was conflicted between Gryffindor and Slytherin, because now it felt far too late. She cared about him so much and now it was scaring her that he didn't feel the same way about her.

"Sorry." That was all he said. He couldn't even look at her. She blinked back tears and turned to leave, as there was nothing left to be said.

"Yes. Leave blood-traitor." She held on tightly to her wand. The other boys guffawed and shouted out words with similar meanings.

"You dunglicker!"

"Scumsucker!"

"Ahhhh… I completely forgot that you have a mudblood Mother. Poor child!"

She turned around abruptly with her wand pointed right at Max. She had no idea what spell she was going to use… Duelling classes seemed pointless to her in that split second. Max looked like he was on the verge of laughing at her and he didn't even bother to take out his wand. Thankfully she felt someone pull her backwards, even better that person was Esmeralda. Albus protectively stood in front of Rose with his wand out as well, but it was Esmeralda who looked the most intimidating.

Max's wand shot out from his robes and his hand was visibly trembling. Esmeralda laughed at him.

"All talk, no action with you, Maximus. My parents always told me you were a horrible, little coward." She glared at him and moved a step closer to him. One of the brain-dead sidekicks opened his mouth to mutter something, but Esme flicked her wand in his direction and muttered 'Expelliarmus'.

Rose had always admired the ease at which Esmeralda could perform spells and even now she performed as if she were in a classroom. Rose was more of a theoretical genius, whereas Esme excelled in the practical side to subjects.

"If I ever hear those nasty little words come out of your mouth again, I will send a letter to your Mother after I put you through as much pain as possible without using an unforgivable curse." She narrowed her eyes at him at the last part. "Is that understood?"

Maximus quickly nodded, and Esmeralda placed her wand back in her robes and motioned for Rose and Albus to follow her.

Rose glanced up at Scorpius one final time and just saw he was still standing there with an emotionless face. He had at least not tried to protect Max, but he still didn't say a word when Max had said those horrible things to her. She shook her head, feeling disgusted in Scorpius. She had turned to leave when she heard a desperate voice say,

"Rose…" She didn't really care what Scorpius had to say though and continued to walk away.

Esmeralda placed her arm around Rose, and Albus looked a little lost… most likely because of the fact that he had just lost his best friend in the space of five minutes.

"That was a bit overdramatic, Gremlin." He finally muttered.

**A/N: It's been so long! I really enjoyed writing that chapter, so hopefully you like it! I haven't edited it though, so I'm really hoping there's not too many mistakes! **

**Please let me know what you guys think of it! Xx**

**TheCheeryCherry.**


	13. Gryffindor versus Slytherin

I've split chapter 13 into two chapters, because it was just too long… So Chapter 14 is going to be the last one for 4th Year.

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love for this to be all mine, anything related to HP belongs to the fabulous JKR. **

_The Red and The Blond_

Chapter 13: Gryffindor versus Slytherin

Rose glared over at the Slytherin table where she could see a laughing Max with his little pet, Scorpius. Albus must have noticed her glaring for he gave her a little nudge. She blinked rapidly and tried to draw her attention away from the people she hated most in the world right now.

"So… you can help with revision for Charms?" Esmeralda asked when she realized she had Rose's attention back on her.

"Well, actually all the subjects really." Albus piped in, flashing an innocent smile. Rose let out a tired little sigh; she had barely thought about revision even though the end of 4th Year exams were a mere three and a half weeks away.

"Fine, but I am pretty dreadful at Potions." She knew who was better at Potions than her, but she really didn't want to mention his name. "And Esme can help you with Defense class."

Albus pulled a face at this comment.

"I'm amazing at Defense class, so I won't need help from _her_."

"I'm sitting right here, you prat." Rose rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for Esmeralda and Albus' sniping today.

Their arguments had become more frequent as the final Quidditch match was fast approaching. Yes, it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and Rose was dreading it. On the Gryffindor team there was herself, Esmeralda and Scorpius (someone she wasn't even on speaking terms with), and on the opposite team was Albus and Maximus. She did not want to be in the same school as him right now, let alone be in close proximity with him for a couple of hours. What made matters worst was the fact that he was a beater, and she was a chaser meaning she would probably getting hit more than usual by the bludgers.

She set down her knife and fork and stood up. Thinking about tomorrow's match was giving her tight knots in her stomach. There were no practices tonight, so that the team could rest up for the match, which Rose was beginning to feel very grateful for.

"We haven't even had dessert yet!" Albus groaned, as Rose began collecting her things and Esmeralda was now also standing.

"You can stay and eat till your heart's content, Albus." Rose said a little snappier than usual. She had spent far too much time with Albus the past few months due to the fact that Scorpius was no longer their friend.

"The match will be fine, don't worry about it." Esmeralda said, guessing that Rose was a little worked up over that. Rose gave a small smile to say that she appreciated what Esme said.

"Hey, do you know what will take your mind off the match? Revision!" Esmeralda said in mock excitement. Rose couldn't help but let out a small laugh and they walked off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

><p>Scorpius followed closely behind Maximus and the two other guys named, Frank and Dale, till they reached a corner of the courtyard, which was their little hangout spot after dinner. Frank and Dale were dimwits in Scorpius' honest opinion, but he still found something oddly fascinating about Maximus.<p>

Oh, he knew he was a bad guy and he had gotten in some trouble since becoming… friends with him, but he somehow felt more admired and like he actually could relate to Maximus. He felt less like a child, he noted as Maximus took out his small bottle of Firewhiskey, which had been charmed to look like Pumpkin Juice so they could avoid getting into trouble. He handed the bottle over to Scorpius.

"Better not drink too much though, Malfoy… It's a big day tomorrow." He smirked at him and Scorpius took a small sip before returning the bottle over to Maximus. There was a lot of drinking involved in their hangouts, which Scorpius was still getting used to. He never did this sort of thing when he was around Albus or Rose… He winced at the memory of how things used to be with them; he still missed them and sometimes wished he could just go back to things were, but it was too late for that now. Anyway, this way he wasn't lying to anyone and he was finally able to embrace his true Slytherin side.

"Uhm…. Yeah, I guess it is." Scorpius said finally. He was a little bit worried about the match tomorrow, especially seeing as he had been walking around acting like a Slytherin for the past few months. Also because he wasn't even talking to two members of the team, although he had in a way talked to her. He secretly got her a Birthday present last month.

He had used one of the School owls to send the present anonymously. It was a tiny cuddly toy of a unicorn that would let out a few sparks from its' horn and neigh if you stroked it. Yes, it was completely stupid, but he had no other ideas for a present and he had really wanted to get her something. Anyway she seemed to like it regardless of the fact she had no idea who had sent it.

"Yes, I have been wanting to talk to you about the match tomorrow, Seeker." Maximus said softly with his toothy smile that he usually reserved for times when he wanted to cause trouble.

"Sure, what is it?" Scorpius asked casually, but he knew this wasn't going to be good. Maximus slid a cigarette (muggle invention that he was addicted to) from one of the pockets of his robe and motioned for Frank and Dale to keep watch to make sure no Professors, Prefects or the Head Boy and Girl were snooping around. He lit the tip of the cigarette with his wand and blew a puff of smoke in Scorpius' direction.

"You have been spending a lot of time with us recently and I've began to consider you a Slytherin, therefore part of our… family. Do you agree?" Scorpius was completely flattered to be considered a part of the Slytherin family, and he nodded his head eagerly in reply.

"Good." He said and took another puff on his cigarette then continued. "And as you know this is my final year. I have been somewhat disappointed with Slytherin's performance in Quidditch over the recent years – the last time we won was three years ago – and I desire the trophy this year."

Scorpius wasn't a hundred percent sure where he was going with this, but he had a pretty good idea.

"Do you think you could do me the greatest favour and _not_ catch the snitch tomorrow?" He asked. His question was a plea, but with a certain amount of pride in it that it didn't sound like begging.

Scorpius was stunned. What he could possibly say to that? He couldn't ultimately do that, because he was a part of a team… This was a game at the end of the day and he couldn't just cheat…. But wasn't his loyalty with Slytherin now, hadn't his loyalty always been with Slytherin? His family's loyalty was with Slytherin anyway. If he chose to do this then he had to be one hundred percent sure it was the right thing to do.

"I think I'll need to think about it." This was all that he said. Max's hopeful smile faded straight away and he just gave a curt nod.

"Of course!" He said with fake delight. "Just think about it, yes? Nobody will know you let us win, they will just think you couldn't see the snitch."

"Yes, I know that… I just _need_ time to think about it."

"Fine." He said with a forced smile. He handed over the bottle of firewhiskey again and this time he took a big swig in an effort to forget about everything.

* * *

><p>Esmeralda flicked through <em>The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 4, <em>but she wasn't really taking anything in. Her hand was propping her head up, so she didn't end up falling asleep. She gave a huge, dramatic yawn and stretched her tanned arms over her head.

"What time is it?"

Rose gave a little sigh of frustration at Esmeralda asking the same question for the second time in five minutes.

"It's quarter to ten." She heard Esme groan loudly, but ignored her and continued with the practice of the Banishing Charm. She was practicing on a feather and was happy to admit that she was doing a very good job. She decided to practice one more time and then move onto Potions, which she was going to find a little difficult.

"_Depulso_." She said, while the feather her wand was aimed at was sent flying across to the other side of the room. She gave a proud smile and then reached for her Potions textbook. "You ready to move onto -"

There was a loud bang as the portrait moved to reveal the hole in the wall. Scorpius staggered into the common room and was bringing in the faint smell of smoke and whiskey. Esme raised her eyebrows at him, while Rose couldn't help but feel concerned for the friend she once had.

He straightened himself up, while humming a little. Rose shook her head in disbelief. _He's only fifteen and he's completely drunk.  
><em>

He finally noticed the two of them sitting in the comfy chairs by the fireplace and nodded at them in acknowledgement. Then he instantly fell over.

Rose put her textbook down with a defeated sigh, and went to help him up. She pulled him up by one of his arms and once he was standing straight again, he looked at Rose… like was really staring at her. She turned away from his stare before she got sucked into it, and said the first thing that came to her mind,

"Stop it." He blinked rapidly and coughed as a way to stop the awkwardness that had been created between them.

"See you tomorrow, Rosie. Yeah, tomorrow for our BIG match." He startled Rose with his sudden shout of the word, 'big'. He realized he must have scared her for he said, 'Shhhh…' and placed a finger to his lips, then to her lips. Rose would have laughed if she was still friends with him, but they weren't friends anymore so she turned around and walked back to the sofa. She was acutely aware of the fact that he was still staring after her, but she didn't look back in his direction. Eventually he walked away.

"Well, that was… interesting." Esme muttered after he walked up the stairs to the male bedrooms.

"I have no idea what that was about." Rose mused, while tucking her hair behind her ears.

"He was drunk. That's what that was about." Esme stated with a small laugh. "Obviously he doesn't ignore you when he's drunk."

"He wasn't really ignoring me before. I was ignoring him." Rose said in the best dignified voice she could manage.

"Well, he _talks_ to you when he's drunk then." Esme huffed. Suddenly she sat up straight and looked intensely at Rose with a small smile playing on her lips.

"What?" Rose asked, checking to make sure there was nothing on her.

"He's totally the one who got you the unicorn!" She said in an excited whisper. Rose immediately shook her head, but that was what she had been thinking… _hoping_ ever since she had had received the mysterious birthday present.

"He so did! And that's so friggin' adorable!" She said clapping her hands together. Rose was a bit taken aback by Esme's hidden romantic side coming out and decided it was from a lack of sleep.

"Right… Okaayyy" Rose started with a little sarcastic smile and nod. "Let's go to sleep now. We better rest for the big match tomorrow."

**A/N: I didn't expect to upload this chapter so soon, but I found it pretty fun to write. And now the sort of climatic point for the whole first of the story happens in the next chapter, so look out for that! Didn't read through this again so please excuse any mistakes, big or small. **

**GUYS, please review! It would totally motivate me and I just really want to know what you think of the story! Anyway, we're really close to 50 alerts so that will be a little bit of a celebration! **

**Thanks for sticking with this for so long ****J**

**TheCheeryCherry xx**


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